markv@dartvax.UUCP (Mark Vita) (05/06/84)
I've gotten quite a few replies from my article about the
progression of command. Most have confirmed that it is indeed
Lt. DeSalle who appears in command in "Catspaw", but no one
seems to know the exact reason for his place in the command
chain. One person (Bob Lynch--!decvax!wivax!lynch) said that
DeSalle was "second in command in the engineering division",
next to Scotty. Using this logic, McCoy would be second in the
sciences division to Spock and Sulu second to Kirk in the Command
division. Since the chain of command appears to go from
Command->Sciences->Engineering, it would then be logical that
the progression would go from the first person in each
division, in order, to the second person in each division, etc.
That would mean the order is: Kirk, Spock, Scotty, Sulu, McCoy,
DeSalle. This order makes sense to me. The reason why
McCoy never appears in command of the ship could be that there
isn't an episode where the first four are off the ship
without McCoy. (I can't think of one offhand.) Even if this
did happen, I'm sure that a good explanation for McCoy
not taking command would be that he is a doctor first and
a commander second, so that if he were busy in Sickbay
he could waive his requirement to command to the ship
to DeSalle.
--
Mark Vita
Dartmouth College
{decvax,cornell,linus}!dartvax!markvks@astrovax.UUCP (Karl Stapelfeldt) (05/07/84)
The discussion of command succession seems to take away the function of the command personnel. It is their job to be in charge of the ship. On the Enterprise, Spock is *both* first officer and science officer. His rank as first officer brings him into the command chain after Kirk. Spock simply prefers to wear the uniform of the science officer over that of the command rank he also holds. It is likely that on other starships these two positions are held by seperate officers; Spock is uniquely capable of performing both functions. The science department would not necessarily be the next in line after the "command" department for command.
jerry@oliveb.UUCP (05/07/84)
As I understand it command between officers of the same rank is
usually based on length of service (or is it date of promotion?).
It is also my understanding that McCoy is not a career officer but
joined the service after his divorce. So, even if he had rank, he
could be the last to get command.
Jerry Aguirre
{hplabs|fortune|ios|tolerant|allegra|tymix}!oliveb!jerryron@brl-vgr.UUCP (05/08/84)
Or it could be that McCoy just hasn't had ship command training. It would make sense to only allow acting captains that have had command training. Although this is probably not the case as I seem to remember one episode (can't remember everything anymore, unlike my younger days when I could recite each line in all the shows) where some yahoo who knows nothing about star ships pulls rank and assumes command (takes the ship into the neutral zone too? I think). -Ron
judd@umcp-cs.UUCP (05/09/84)
In any case, Doctors are NOT considered part of the chain of command
by any of the current armed forces on this planet so they will (prolly)
not be on the chain of command in any likely future.
(above is not documentable, it is true as far as I know)
--
Spoken: Judd Rogers
Arpa: judd.umcp-cs@CSNet-relay
Uucp:...{allegra,seismo}!umcp-cs!judd